ESP8266 - transfer some bytes PC<>PIC over wifi

[amgen]

There's quite a jungle of firmwares available for these ESP modules.

Which one should I use? Which one will allow me to "simply" send and receive a few bytes back and forth between a PC and a PIC?

That is what I found about these 8266's. Plus I wanted to just deal with the serial/data/programming with the PIC and not have to add all the CWxxx's in the communications back and forth. So, the Jeelabs thing did that...... Programming these 8266 is about the same with different methods, I used the Espressif tool to put 4 files at the specified locations on the 8266. The Jeelabs page has files for the 8266-1 and -12. Sometimes had to flash 2 times to get the program to take..... after programmed, you open the onboard web page to make all the network settings.... then everytime it is powered up, it automatically hooks to the network you had set it for and waits for a connection and then automatically sends and receives serial stuff. Plus, you can access your PIC from local or anywhere in the world with internet. I was looking for others ideas for the routines/programs on the PIC plus apps or program on PC for easy simple comms for simple micro-controllers.